Switching mechanism for automobile signals



Jan. 6, 1942. H. E. wooDRlNG 2,269,047 SWITCHING' MECHANISM FOR AUTOMOBILE SIGNALS 9' llo 6', 3a 9 a1 as 26 27 a0 l 36 .5 9 lo 45 a 94.27252 nvenfor Woodrb'ng (Ittorneg Patented Jan. 6, 1942 SWITCI-IING MECHANISM FOR AUTOMOBILE SIGNALS Hubert E. Woodring, Denver, Colo.

Application September 19, 1940, Serial No. 357,466

7 Claims.

This invention relates to improvements in signalling mechanisms such as are especially'adapted to use on passenger and similar motor vehicles. One of the driving requirements with respect to such vehicles is the observance of simple signals to indicate to the drivers of vehicles immediately to the rear what the intentions are of the driver who is giving the signals.

In comparatively recent times the originally adopted hand signals have become replaced to a considerable extent by electrical signals which in some recent instances have been manually set in operation and made dependent upon a subsequent performance of the vehicle itself for their cessation. In other words, the driver can initiate the signal which thereupon endures until the intended turn is made, whereupon some part of the vehicle itself causes the stopping of the signal operation.

The instant invention introduces a change in this procedure by making the signal mechanism itself responsible for the cessation of the signal. To this end a time element enters in the operation of the signal, and the vehicle itself has nothing to do with causing it to stop after it has once been initiated by the driver. With this premise in mind the objects of the invention are as follows:

First, to provide a signalling mechanism according to which intended rightl or left turns of the automobile can be indicated, the duration of each signalling period being dependent upon time alone and not upon any mechanical factor such as the manipulation of the steering gear, etc.

Second, to provide a signalling mechanism predicated upon the foregoing principle, which is arranged for as many time periods as needed.

Third, to provide a signalling mechanism which is capable of being reused or reset immediately after the termination of an initially intended signalling act, thereby to extend the term of the signalling act or to provide for a succession of such signalling acts as when the driver of the vehicle has to make a number of turns in fairly quick succession.

Fourth, to provide a signalling mechanism which lends itself to easy and cheap manufacture, thereby constituting a safety factor inasmuch as it may be placed within the reach of many persons of moderate means who, were it not for the intended low cost of the mechanism, would not avail themselves of the safety advantage which it affords.,

the following specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawing, in which:

Figure 1 is a plan view of the signalling mechanism, the cover being omitted.

Figure 2 is a detail plan view of the switch blade.

Figure 3 is a cross section taken on the line 3-3 of Fig. 2.

Figure 4 is a front elevation of the mechanism shown in Fig. 1.

Figure 5 is a longitudinal section taken on the line 5 5 of Fig. 1, but including the cover which was previously stated to be omitted.

Figure 6 is a cross section taken on the line 6 6 of Fig. l, again including the cover.

Figure 7 is a plan view of the fixed insulating disk.

Figure 8 is a diagram illustrating the operation of the mechanism.

Figure 9 is a detailed sectional view illustrating a spring contact which is usable in lieu -of the rivet-type contact in Figs. 5 and 6.

Figure 10 is an elevation of the detent device, particularly showing its details.

Figure l1 is a diagram referred to in concluslon.

In carrying out the invention the signalling mechanism, generally designated I, is made to comprise a housing 2 which by preference is die cast. The advantage of this structural procedure is that the entire housing can be made in one piece. Each of the four walls is internally rabbeted at 3 to provide a seat for a cover 4 (Figs. 5 and 6) Screws 5 are used to fasten the cover 4 down to the housing 2. The necessary holes in said cover are not threaded, but the holes 6 in bosses 'I in the corners of the housing 2 are threaded so that the screws can be driven home as suggested in Fig. 5. There is a deep recess 8 in one of the side walls of the housing 2, and one of the adjacent end walls has attached to it a throat 9. This throat has a passageway IIJ for the Wires which lead out to the various lamps and battery.

These wires are not shown in Figs. l and 4 because they are fully diagrammed in Fig. 8 and are fragmentarily shown in each of Figs. 5 and 6. A boss II is cast on the bottom of the housing 2 (Figs. 5 and 6). This boss has a threaded central hole I2 and an upstanding pin I3 (Fig. 6) a little to one side of the center.

'I'his pin serves as an anchor, in a sense, with respect to an insulating disk I4 (Fig. 7). This disk, as its name implies, is composed of insulatvOther objectsv and advantages will appear in ing material. One side of it is desirably cut away at I5, although this might not always be essential. It carries four contacts successively designated I6, Il, I8 and I9. Said contacts are distributed on quarters (Fig. '7) and they may either be of the rivet-type (Fig. 6) or the spring type (Fig. 9).

There is a central hole 29 in the disk I4. This hole loosely receives the threaded stem 2l of a bolt that is driven into the hole I2. The disk I4 also has a hole 22 which is located as far offcenter as in the pinl, the idea being to register the pin with the hole when emplacing the disk, thus not only properly centering the disk but at the same time anchoring it against turning.

Thus said disk I4 is rested upon the boss I I. A spacer washer 23 is set on top of the disk I4 where it is kept in place by the threaded stern. Said stem merges into a collar 24 which comes immediately beneath the head 25. Said head is slotted at 26 like a screw so as to be capable of being driven into the hole I2 with a screw driver. Said head is deeply cut on opposite sides to define grooves 2l. The walls of these grooves are iiat (Fig. 1), their purpose being to exercise a cam action with respect to a spring which is embodied in the construction for the purpose of neutralizing the switch blade.

The switch blade is commonly designated 28 (Fig. 2) It includes a head 29 which has a hole 30 so proportioned in its location that when it is occupied by the collar 24 in the assembled structure it provides together with said collar a pivot point on which the switch blade is turnable. The head 29 has a terminal 3| which is squared ofi", in a sense, with the parallel sides of the other- 5,

wise rectangular head 29, although actually the contour of the terminal is the arc of a circle of large radius.

Said terminal 3i is provided with a succession of notches 32 and teeth 33. Obviously the notches are the result of forming vthe teeth, and they are essential from the standpoint of engaging with a detent 34 which tends to keep the switch blade in any one of its set positions.

A hole 35 adjacent to the terminal 3| normally has registration with the top contact I6, but the hole is larger than the contact so that the now of current is deferred an instant when turning the blade 23 in either of the two directions. Said blade has Contact arms 36, 3l which coact with the side contacts I1, I9.. It also has an extension 36 which is made long enough to be used as a handle. To facilitate this purpose said eXtension has a plastic portion 39 moulded to it, providing an altogether attractive appearance.

As is seen in Fig. l the extension 38 occupies and is movable in the recess 8. The latter be,- comes a slot (Fig. 4) when the cover 4 is screwed down in its seat 3. Reverting to the blade 28, it is seen in Fig. 2 that it includes'a T-lug 4| (Fig. 3). This lug is used as the anchorage for the coiled head 42 of a spring 43. This spring is something like a hair pin, its components pressing in against the flat sides of the groove 2'I as previously mentioned, thus tending to keep the switch blade 28 in the central and neutral position shown in Fig. 1.

At that time the detent 34 engages the central notch of the series 32. Sail detent comprises the terminal of one end of a bi-metallic strip 44, the other end of which is xedly anchored by driving the head of a screw 45 against the top edge of the strip 44 after setting its contiguous end in a slot 45e in one of the bosses 'I which in this instance' is made a little larger than the others for accommodation. The strip 44 has a winding 46 of resistance wire, constituting a heater coil, the purpose of which is to heat and thus deflect the strip 44 thereby to disengage the detent 34.

A headless set-screw 47 is driven into the wall adjacent to the strip 44 (Fig. 1) and is made to bear against the strip in order to set Vthe latter at a zero adjustment. The heater coil is insulated from the strip by folds of insulation 46a applied over the top and bottom edges along which the turns are permanently spaced so that they will not touch. The return portion 46b of the heater wire is insulated at 46c along one side of the strip 44, the opposite side of said strip being fully exposed to the heater coil between the folds 46a and thus responsive to quick heating and quick cooling as well. In practice the two terminals of the heater coil will be secured on an insulating terminal block of the housing 2 which is made of metal. If plastic material is used for the housing then the wires can terminate under screw heads.

At this point attention is directed to Fig. 8 which diagrammatically represents the system. Pairs of right and left signal lamps 49, 50, and 5I, 52 are connected in parallel by wires 53, 54 and 55., 56. A bridge wire 5'! connects the wires 54, andv has connection at 58 with a asher 59 which may or may not be used in practice. The connection 58 actually is a wire which leads down to one'terminal of the battery 60, the other terminal being connected by means of a wire 6I with the top contact I6.

The side contacts I', I9 respectively are connected by wires 62, 63 with the lamp wires 53, 56. The bottom contact I8 is connected by means of a Wire 64 with the other terminal of the winding 46. Before beginning the description of the operation it is desired to state that making the contacts I6, etc. in the form of rivets (Figs. 5 and 6) aiordsa, convenience in. manufacture. The rivets are simply inserted and then spread as shown, the various Vwires being conveniently soldered on as depicted in several instances.

The switch blade 28 rides the contacts and is movable on the stem at the collar 24 which provides a bearing. In some instances it is desirable to use a spring type of contact in lieu of the rivet type, and then the contact will consist of a ball 65 (Fig. 9), held up by a spring 66 which backs against the screw closure 61 of the bore 68 in the insulating disk I4.

The operation is readily understood. The initial act is to move the handle 38 either to the left or right to match the directionA of the intended turn. It. is possible to deiiect the detent 3,4 out of the central notch a so that it, can settle in either notch b or c. The deection is caused by the cam action of the teeth d or e. But it is not so easy tov move the switch blade 28 farther because the teeth f or g constitute more prominent obstructions than d or e.

Assuming the handle 38 to be turned to the position 69 for a left turn, the detent 34 willV surmount the tooth e (Fig. 8) by a cam action and enter the notch c. There it will stay for aperiod of ten seconds (fifteen seconds if desired) by which time the strip 44 will have been heated suniciently to deiiectit to the 1.0-second position (Fig. 8').

This lifting of the detent 34A from contact with the blade 28 breaks the current through the winding 45, and at the same time the blade 28 returns to its original neutral position. If it is desired to extend the term or time period of the signalling act the operator may immediately throw the handle 38 again, but now by virtue of the fact that the detent 34 is still slightly suspended it is readily possible for the tooth g to pass under the detent and thus make the latter accessible to the next notch h.

The current flow will then be reestablished and will endure for say twenty seconds longer. When that interval passes there will have been suflicient heating of the strip 44 to deflect it to the .20-second position whereupon the blade 28 will again be released, the heating current cut 01T and the former permitted to return to the neutral position.

Reverting to the initial left turn, current flows from the hot side of the battery 6|) over wire 6| to the contact I6. Inasmuch as-the blade 28 is then in engagement with that Contact the continuity of the current is traced through the arm 3l, conltact I9 and wires 63, 55 and 56 to the two left lamps 5|, 52, and then by way of the wire 51 to the return side of the battery. At the same time current flows from the hot side of the battery to .the contact I8 and then by way of the wire 64 through the heater coil 4S, whence it flows to the return side of the battery by the previously unidentied wire 10.

The foregoing acts are repeated every time the switch arm 38 is lthrown to one side or the other to produce a signal. It is to be observed in closing that the contact arms 36, 3'| barely touch the side contacts I9, so that when the switch handle is pushed either to lthe left or right said :3,

arms will clear the respective side contacts before the top IContact I6 makes engagement with the head 29, it being remembered that the hole is considerably oversized in proportion to the top Contact i6, so that this serial order of disengagement and engagement can be carried out. It is also to be understood that the driver at his own will can force the handle to neutral from a right or left setting, and on the same principle can change from a left or right setting to the opposite setting as may be demanded by the exigencies of driving.

In conclusion it is desired to amplify the principle of the variable timing for which the toothed terminal 3| is responsible. It has been pointed out that variable timing can be accomplished by means of the lateral setting of the notches 32 with respect to the longitudinal center of the blade 23. This purpose can be served even more extensively by locating said terminal at `different radii from the pivotal center of the blade.

This statement is best explained by reference to Fig. 1l which is largely in diagrammatic form. The blade 28 has a terminal 3| much on the order of the primary form, being distinguished by the same notches 32 and teeth 33 as in Fig. 1. The terminal is shown struck on a shallow arc. The terminal could be of concave form rather than the convex shown in Fig. 1l, or it could be straight across but taking the illustration as it stands in Fig. 11, it will be seen that the arcuate extensions k, Z, m, of the bottoms of the notches when struck from the pivotal center at the hole 30 will produce successively longer time periods, for example l0 seconds and 30 seconds, as denoted on the drawing, this in turn being translated into successively longer time periods at the ends or" which the detent 34 is to be raised and thereby lto release the switch blade 28 for its restoration to normalcy by the spring A3.

Now by shifting the center one way or the other, for example closer to the terminal 3| as at 1|, the time periods are varied materially as can be seen by consulting the extensions n, o, p. These in the order named comprise an increase of the time periods to 15 and 40 seconds respectively, meaning that these time periods must elapse before the strip 44 is heated sufficiently to raise the `deterit 34 and again release the switch blade. Thus it will be understood that a virtually endless variation of the timing periods can be achieved by various settings of the pivot of the blade 28, thereby locating the toothed terminal 3l at any one of an innite number of chosen radii, as well as by the formation of the toothed terminal itself, whether convex as shown, concave or straight across.

I claim:

i. In a switching mechanism, an insulating mount having at least two spaced contacts adapted to form part of a circuit, a switch blade and means by which it is pivoted on said mount for turning, said blade being always in engagement with one of said contacts and provided with a hole larger than the other contact which is adapted to be centered therein, thus requiring a preliminary idle motion of the switch blade prior to the engagement of the second named contact with a wall of said opening.

2. In a switching mechanism, at least two insulated contacts adapted to form part of a circuit, a pivoted switch blade being always in engagement with one of the contacts, said blade being provided with a hole larger than the other contact, spring means acting on the blade to center the hole around said other contact, the blade having at least one tooth, and detent means engaging the tooth to maintain the blade in position and the walls of the hole spaced from the second mentioned contact.

3. In a switching mechanism, at least two insulated contacts adapted to form part of a circuit, a switch blade always in engagement with one of the contacts, said blade being provided with a hole larger than the other contact, a stem on which the blade is pivoted, said stem having at least one flat portion, a spring carried by switch blade, exerting pressure against the ilat portion thus to tend to hold said blade in a position wherein the hole is centered around said other contact, the blade having at least one tooth and deterit means engaging the tooth for retaining the walls of the hole out oi engagement with the second mentioned contact.

4. In a switching mechanism, at least two insulatec contacts adapted to form part of a circuit, a switch blade being always in engagement with one of the contacts and provided with a hole larger than the other contact, a stem on which the blade is pivoted, having a head with flat portions on opposite sides, and a forked spring anchored on the switch blade and having its free portion bearing against the at portions for retaining the switch blade in an inoperative position whereat the hole is centered around said other contact.

5. A switching mechanism for a signal lamp comprising a manually oscillatable switch blade having return means tending to maintain it in a neutral position, a pivot for the blade, a contact at one side of said blade with which said blade is engageable when oscillated to close an electrical circuit connected with said blade and contact, the fre@ end of the blade having a series of notches, a detent engaging anotch for holding the blade in the neutral position or engaging the other notches for holding the blade in circuit closing position, a bimetallic strip having a free end carrying the detent, the other end of said strip being secured to a xed support, a .heating means in an electrical circuit which is closed when the blade is rocked from the neutral position, said heating means being associated with the strip so that when the strip is heated it will move the detent out of a notch which denes the closing position of the circuits,.

said notches in the series starting with the neutral position being located at gradually increasing radii from the pivot of the blade.

6. A switching mechanism for a signal lamp comprising a manually oscillatable switch blade having return means tending to maintain it in a neutral position, a pivot for the blade, a contact at one side of said blade with which said blade is engageable when oscillated to close an electrical circuit connected with said blade and contact, a detent engaging the free end of the blade at a point for holding the blade in the neutral position or engaging the end of the blade at other points for holding the blade in circuit closing position, a bimetallic strip having a free end carrying the detent, the other end of said strip being secured to a fixed support, a heating means in an electrical circuit which is closed when the blade is rocked from the neutral position, said heating means being associatedV withv the strip so that when the strip isl heated it will move the detent away from the blade holding position, and spaced means on the free end of the blade and engaged by the detent for determining the neutral and circuit closing positions of the detent.

7. A switching mechanism for a signal lamp comprising a manually oscillatable switch blade having return means tending to maintain it in a neutral position, a pivot for the blade, a contact at one side of said blade with which said blade is engageable when oscillated to close an electrical circuit connected with said blade and Contact, means contacting the free end of the blade at the neutral position for holding the blade in non-circuit closing position, a bimetallic strip having a, free end carrying the contacting means, the other end of said strip being secured to a Xed support, a heating means in an electrical circuit Which is closed when the blade is rocked from the neutral position, means on the free end of the blade and engaged by the contacting means for moving said contacting means outwardly at progressively increasing radii from the pivot when the blade is rocked, said heating means being associated with the strip so that when the strip is heated it will move the contacting means away from the means on the free end of the blade for releasing the blade when said blade will be returned to neutral position HUBERT E. i/VOODRINGs 

